‘Okina 24

Brad Brown’s ’Okina monotypes are doubles; they are divided into upper and lower halves.

Brown describes his process for making the prints:

Two plates were worked on simultaneously. While working, it was impossible for me to see the entirety of the image—I was only in control of each half.

Sometimes the images on the plates were mark-for-mark copies of one another; other times one image was a riff or a variation on the other.

When copying myself I employed the dual impulses of freedom and constraint— I had the freedom to mark the plate in any way and then an obligation to recreate that mark. The first, free mark was anything, anywhere; the second, copying mark legitimized it.

Both plates came together to form the image. The resulting image was hidden until the upper and lower plates were run though the press.

The plates met in the center of the page in the seam, or joint. Where the plates met at the joint there was a kiss; this became literally the crux of the matter.